Nilotic

Nilotic people or Nilotes, in its contemporary usage, refers to some ethnic group

Ethnic group

An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...

South Sudan , officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country located in the Sahel region of northeastern Africa. It is also part of the North Africa UN sub-region. Its current capital is Juba, which is also its largest city; the capital city is planned to be moved to the more...

Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...

The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...

The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of African languages spoken by some 50 million people, mainly in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers , including historic Nubia, north of where the two tributaries of Nile meet...

The Luo are an ethnic linguistic group located in an area that stretches from South Sudan and Ethiopia through northern Uganda and eastern Congo , into western Kenya, and ending in the upper tip of Tanzania. These people speak an Eastern Sudanic language, a branch of the Nilo-Saharan language...

Ateker or Atekerin is a common name for the closely related Jie, Karamojong, Turkana, Toposa, Nyangatom and Teso peoples and their languages. Itung'a and Teso have been used among ethnographers, while the term Teso-Turkana is sometimes used for the languages, which are of Eastern Nilotic stock....

The Dinka is an ethnic group inhabiting the Bahr el Ghazal region of the Nile basin, Jonglei and parts of southern Kordufan and Upper Nile regions. They are mainly agro-pastoral people, relying on cattle herding at riverside camps in the dry season and growing millet and other varieties of grains ...

The Maa languages are a group of closely related Eastern Nilotic languages spoken in parts of Kenya and Tanzania by more than a million speakers altogether. They are subdivided into North and South Maa...

– all which are clusters of several ethnic groups.

The terms Nilotic and Nilote were previously used as racial classifications, based on anthropological observations of their distinct body morphology. These perceptions were later widely discarded by scientists, but today they again find support in population genetics.

These terms are now foremost used to distinguish "Nilotic people" from their ethnic neighbours (mainly Bantu

Bantu languages

The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...

speaking people), based on ethnolinguistic affiliation. Etymologically, the terms Nilotic and Nilote (also spelled Nilot) derive from the Nile Valley, specifically the Upper Nile and its tributaries, where most Sudanese Nilo-Saharan-speaking people live.

Linguistic divisions

The Eastern Nilotic languages are one of the three primary branches of the Nilotic languages, themselves belonging to the Eastern Sudanic subfamily of Nilo-Saharan; they are believed to have begun to diverge about 3,000 years ago, and have spread southwards from an original home in Equatoria in...

The Southern Nilotic languages are spoken mainly in western Kenya and northern Tanzania . They are generally divided into two groups, Kalenjin and Omotik–Datooga, although there is some uncertainty as to the internal coherence of the Kalenjin branch...

The Western Nilotic languages are one of the three primary branches of the Nilotic languages, themselves belonging to the Eastern Sudanic subfamily of Nilo-Saharan...

Ethnic divisions

Nilotic people constitute a large part of the population of South Sudan

South Sudan

South Sudan , officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country located in the Sahel region of northeastern Africa. It is also part of the North Africa UN sub-region. Its current capital is Juba, which is also its largest city; the capital city is planned to be moved to the more...

. The largest of the Sudanese Nilotic peoples is the Dinka, which includes as many as twenty-five ethnic groups. The next largest group is the Nuer, followed by the Shilluk.

The Luo are an ethnic linguistic group located in an area that stretches from South Sudan and Ethiopia through northern Uganda and eastern Congo , into western Kenya, and ending in the upper tip of Tanzania. These people speak an Eastern Sudanic language, a branch of the Nilo-Saharan language...

Alur are an ethnic group who live mainly in the Nebbi, Zombo, and Arua districts in northwestern Uganda, but also in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, north of Lake Albert. They are part of the larger Luo group, and their language is closely related to Acholi...

The Adhola people, also known as Jopadhola or Badama, are an ethnic group of Uganda. They live Tororo District in southeastern Uganda and comprise about two percent of the country's total population. They speak Dhopadhola , which belongs to the Western Nilotic branch of the Nilo-Saharan language...

Ateker or Atekerin is a common name for the closely related Jie, Karamojong, Turkana, Toposa, Nyangatom and Teso peoples and their languages. Itung'a and Teso have been used among ethnographers, while the term Teso-Turkana is sometimes used for the languages, which are of Eastern Nilotic stock....

Samburu is the Eastern Nilotic, North Maa language spoken by the Samburu in the highlands of northern Kenya. The Samburu number about 128,000 . Samburu is closely related to Camus and to the South Maa language Maasai...

Turkana is the language of the Turkana people of Kenya, numbering about 340,000.It is one of the Eastern Nilotic languages, and is closely related to Karamojong, Jie and Teso of Uganda, to Toposa spoken in the extreme southeast of Sudan, and to Nyangatom in the Sudan/Ethiopia Omo valley borderland;...

The River lake Nilotes: the Joluo (Kenyan Luo), who are part of the larger Luo

Luo (family of ethnic groups)

The Luo are an ethnic linguistic group located in an area that stretches from South Sudan and Ethiopia through northern Uganda and eastern Congo , into western Kenya, and ending in the upper tip of Tanzania. These people speak an Eastern Sudanic language, a branch of the Nilo-Saharan language...

group

The Highland Nilotic or Kalenjin, which includes several smaller groups: Elgeyo

Elgeyo

The Elgeyo are an ethnic group that is part the larger Kalenjin ethnic group of nilotic origin. They live near Eldoret, Kenya in the highlands of the Keiyo District...

Marakwet is a corruption of Markweta. It is a tribe of the Kalenjin people, with an estimated population of 200 000. It is made of the clans Almoo, Cherangany , Endoow, Markweta , Sombirir and Kiptaani who presently predominantly live in Marakwet District in the North Rift Valley Province of Kenya...

In human genetics, Haplogroup B is a Y-chromosome haplogroup.-Distribution:Haplogroup B is localized to sub-Saharan Africa, especially to tropical forests of West-Central Africa. After Y-haplogroup A, it is the second oldest and one of the most diverse human Y-haplogroups...

(16/53 = 30.2%), and E1b1b (9/53 = 17.0%).

Wood et al. (2005) tested samples of three Nilotic populations (Maasai from Kenya, Luo from Kenya, and Alur from the DRC) as part of a broad survey of human Y-chromosome DNA variation in Africa and found that the predominant Y-DNA haplogroup in each of the three populations was different, with E1b1b1-M35 being the most frequent among Maasai (13/26 = 50%, including 4/26 = 15% E1b1b1a-M78

Haplogroup E1b1b1a (Y-DNA)

In human genetics, E1b1b1a , is the name of a major Y chromosome haplogroup found in North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia and Europe. It is dominated by its longer-known sub-clade E1b1b1a1 , formerly known as E3b1a and E1b1b1a...

and 9/26 = 35% E1b1b1-M35(xE1b1b1a-M78, E1b1b1b-M81)), E1b1a-P1 being the most frequent among Luo (6/9 = 67%, including 4/9 E1b1a7-M191 and 2/9 E1b1a-P1(xE1b1a7-M191)), and E2a-M41

Haplogroup E2 (Y-DNA)

In human genetics, Haplogroup E2 is a human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. Haplogroup E2, along with haplogroup E1, is one of the two main branches of the older Haplogroup E.-Distribution:...

being the most frequent among Alur (6/9 = 67%).

Knight et al. (2003) have found haplogroup E1b1b1-M35 to be the most frequent Y-DNA haplogroup in a small sample of eight Southern Nilotic Datooga males from Tanzania (5/8 = 62.5%), with the remainder belonging to haplogroup Y*(xA-M91, B-M60, DE-YAP), which the authors have equated with haplogroup C

Haplogroup C (Y-DNA)

In human genetics, Haplogroup C is a Y-chromosome haplogroup, defined by UEPs M130/RPS4Y711, M216, P184, P255, and P260, which are all SNP mutations. It is a sibling clade of Haplogroup F, within the more ancient grouping of Haplogroup CF...

and/or haplogroup F (2/8 = 25%), and haplogroup E1b1a-M2 (1/8 = 12.5%). Tishkoff et al. (2007) have tested a sample of 35 Datooga males, and likewise have found E1b1b1-M35 to be the most frequent Y-DNA haplogroup among them (19/35 = 54.3%), with the remainder consisting of 8/35 = 22.9% DE-YAP(xE1b1a-M2, E1b1b1-M35), 4/35 = 11.4% E1b1a-M2, 2/35 = 5.7% Y*(xA-M91, B-M60, DE-YAP), 1/35 = 2.9% A3b2-M13, and 1/35 = 2.9% B2b-M112. Henn et al. (2008) have found haplogroup E1b1b1g-M293 in 42.5% (17/40) and haplogroup E1b1b1-M35(xE1b1b1a-M78, E1b1b1b-M81, E1b1b1c-M123, E1b1b1d-M281, E1b1b1e-V6, E1b1b1g-M293) in 5.0% (2/40) of a sample of Datooga males from Tanzania, which suggests that a majority of this population's members of haplogroup E-M35 belong to the subclade marked by the M293 mutation.

In the autosomal study of Tishkoff et al. Nilotic groups (Dinka, Nuer, Shilluk), together with the related Nyimang

Nyimang

Nyimang is an ethnic group of the Nuba Mountains in Kordofan in Sudan and one of the ethnicities called "Nuba". They speak Nyima languages, of the Nilo-Saharan language family. Their population may exceed 100,000. Most are Muslims.-Communication:...

people, make up a discrete genetic cluster separated from other clusters in Subsaharan Africa.

Anthropology

Nilotes are often described as gracile in build, being slimmer and of greater stature than the average human, and having long limbs with very long distal segments (forearms, calves). This characteristic is thought to be a climatic adaptation to allow their bodies to shed heat more efficiently.

Sudanese Nilotes are regarded as one of the tallest people in the world. For example, Roberts and Bainbridge reported average values of 182.6 cm for height and 58.8 kg for weight in a sample of Sudanese Shilluk. Another sample of Sudanese Dinka

Dinka

The Dinka is an ethnic group inhabiting the Bahr el Ghazal region of the Nile basin, Jonglei and parts of southern Kordufan and Upper Nile regions. They are mainly agro-pastoral people, relying on cattle herding at riverside camps in the dry season and growing millet and other varieties of grains ...

had 181.9 cm/58.0 kg with an extremely ectomorphic somatotype 1.6-3.5-6.2.

The Turkana are a Nilotic people native to the Turkana District in northwest Kenya, a dry and hot region bordering Lake Turkana in the east, Pokot, Rendille and Samburuto the south, Uganda to the west, and Sudan and Ethiopia to the north...

The Turkana are a Nilotic people native to the Turkana District in northwest Kenya, a dry and hot region bordering Lake Turkana in the east, Pokot, Rendille and Samburuto the south, Uganda to the west, and Sudan and Ethiopia to the north...